Nevada Silver and Blue - University of Nevada, Reno

AlumniNews
AlumniProfiles by Brandon Stewart
Williams key player in region’s water savings
Lori (Smith) Williams, general
manager of the Truckee Meadows
Water Authority (TMWA), found her
way to the top without really trying.
“I was never looking to climb (a
corporate ladder),” she says. “I just
looked for new experiences and
opportunities where I could learn or try
something new.”
Her mode of operation led her
from being a water quality student
intern at Sierra Pacific Power
Company in 1979 to her position
atop TMWA last October.
“There were no difficulties along the
way, just lots of challenges,” she says.
“And I love a good challenge.”
Williams, a 1983 Nevada chemical
engineering graduate, has exactly that.
She leads the staff at TMWA, strategically
planning long-term water resources
for the Truckee Meadows. She
also oversees her utility’s strategy in
terms of facilities, personnel and
financial outlook.
And she is well prepared for that
challenge. At Nevada, Williams says she
was blessed to be a part of an unusually
talented class.
“We had a super class of chemical
engineers the year I graduated and we
had a lot of fun studying and taking
field trips together,” she says. “This fun
culminated in graduation when I was
recipient of the Herz Gold Medal. That
was great.”
Not only was she awarded the
university’s top undergraduate honor
for her 4.0 grade point average, she was
also given the Scheid Trophy [highest
cumulative GPA over four years] by the
Mackay School of Mines.
She maintains a close relationship
with the school that she says gave her
so much. A member of the Mackay
School of Earth Sciences and Engineering
executive advisory board, she helps
32 Nevada Silver & Blue • March/April 2004
Photo by Jean Dixon
assess curriculum and direction of the
school. She also serves as an advisor to the
Department of Chemical Engineering.
“I got a great education at the School of
Mines and want to give something back,”
Williams says. “Curriculums like hydrology
are also important to the water
authority.”
Williams is a Nevadan for life. She was
born in St Mary’s Hospital, a fourthgeneration
Nevadan on her mother’s side.
“I love Reno and the surrounding area,”
she says. “I have friends and family here. I
have had great career opportunities in
Reno. The quality of life here is unmatched
almost anywhere in the U.S.”
Williams married Craig Williams in
1989, a civil engineer with Sierra Pacific
Power Company. The couple has two boys:
Travis, 9, and Brett, 7.
“Imagine this — they love to build
things,” she says about her sons growing
up with two engineers as parents.
Lori Williams
checks in with
water quality
chemist Max-Noël
Shen at one of
TMWA‘s water
quality labs.